Jennifer Beals joins Denzel Washington for “The Book of Eli”

Jennifer Beals has done several movies since Flashdance, but it still seems to preface her name in every mainstream media write-up of the actress.The L Word has been one of the greatest platforms for her talent, however, and she should finally be able to shed the off-the-shoulder sweatshirt image after the series ends, and she stars in a new film opposite Denzel Washington.

Beals will play a “sexual prize” — seriously, that’s what it said in The Hollywood Reporter — to Washington’s character in The Book of Eli. It is unclear, so far, as to what Eli (Washington) does to deserve such a prize, as the only description of the film available says that he “must fight his way across the wasteland of a near-future America to protect a sacred book that might hold the key to saving humanity.”

OK, maybe I would do that, too, if Jennifer Beals was waiting for me at the end.

Beals and Washington have worked together before in 1995’s Devil in a Blue Dress

And while we’re talking about her past career, can we please get someone to update her Wikipedia photo? Not really the best picture I’ve seen of her. Not by a long shot.

The Book of Eli is scheduled for release in 2010. Will you be watching for Beals to be claimed by Denzel? (He is no Tina.)